Over the past few months, I embarked on a rewarding digital journey to move away from US big tech and towards more European [EU], open source [FOSS], privacy-oriented [P], and decentralized [D] alternatives.

I’m sharing my experience here in case it can be useful to others, as well as to gather any additional thoughts or suggestions:

  • Desktop OS: Microsoft Windows 11 --> OpenSUSE Tumbleweed + KDE [EU][FOSS]
  • Web browser: Google Chrome --> Brave --> Vivaldi --> Mozilla Firefox + Strict privacy settings, uBlock Origin, Privacy Badger, Conset-O-Matic [FOSS][P]
  • Email: Gmail --> Infomaniak Mail [EU][FOSS]
  • Calendar: Google Calendar --> Infomaniak Calendar [EU][FOSS] + OneCalendar [EU]
  • Files: Dropbox --> Infomaniak kDrive [EU][FOSS]
  • Photos: Google Photos --> Infomaniak kDrive [EU][FOSS]
  • Notes: Google Keep --> Notesnook [FOSS][P]
  • Social Media:
    • Facebook --> Nothing
    • Twitter/X --> Mastodon (mas.to) [EU][FOSS][D]
    • Reddit --> Lemmy (lemm.ee) [EU][FOSS][D]
  • AI Chatbot: OpenAI ChatGPT --> Mistral AI Le Chat [EU]
  • Videos: Youtube --> Unwatched [EU][FOSS][P]
  • Podcasts: Apple Podcasts --> Spotify --> Pocket Casts [FOSS]
  • Translate: Google Translate --> DeepL [EU]
  • Maps: Google Maps --> Organic Maps [EU][FOSS][P]
  • Weather: Apple Weather --> YR [EU]
  • Online payments: PayPal --> Revolut [EU]
  • Password manager: LastPass --> Mozilla Firefox --> Bitwarden [FOSS][P]
  • Online shopping: Amazon --> Cdiscount [EU]
  • Travel booking: Booking.com --> Direct booking

And here’s the list of things I couldn’t let go of:

  • Mobile OS: iOS | I have a business iPhone which is also my personal phone
  • Messaging: WhatsApp | The network effect is too big here: family, friends, local businesses, etc
  • Streaming services: Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+ | These come basically for free with my ISP and are too convenient for the moment (esp. w/ kids)
  • Reannlegge@lemmy.caEnglish
    2·
    22 days ago

    I have given up on a traditional Desktop computer a while ago and moved mostly to my iPad, but if I had the choice now I would be using something with an ARM or RISK5 processor and probably Debian. I am trying to get away from safari but I find a new browser I like but there is always that one thing that pulls me back (usually tab groups). I used to have Wordpress host my domain, it is now hosted by hosthero. I went from a .com to a .ca tld. I use my ISPs email server for professional emails, I however think they are trying to phase out offering email addresses. I used Apple’s hidemy email for signing up for things I now use my domain to create pseudo random email addresses. I host my own Nextcloud and VPN (wireshark) at my home for files I am looking for an off site option as well. I have tried multiple times to use a different Calendar setup with Nextcloud. I am wanting to find a way to download all my iTunes music into my Nextcloud music library but that is going to be tough for the moment, maybe if I really cared I would find a way but not right now. All of my photos are still on Apple’s servers, I do however occasionally get around to backing them up on my Nextcloud. Notes I have not really cared enough to actually move but I should probably move them to Nextcloud, just like reminders. Social media I mostly just use Lemmy (Lemmy.ca) I do use discord, I would drop it in a second if the communities I belong to would as well. I will have to look at AI, I use chatgpt for proof reading and helping me code things. Question for you what is unwatched? I have been thinking about setting up a new device to watch youtube stripped of the ads but that is a little ways off right now. I use youtube for the podcasts I follow but I am thinking of moving my podcast subscriptions to my Nextcloud. I have no regular need for a translator so I do not have one. The first internet thing I changed was my password manager, I use 1Password as it is Canadian, if I where to do it again I would go bitwarden. My online shopping has stopped at Amazon, the occasional time I will buy whatever I need right from Canadian store webpages. I cut my subscription to Amazon prime, Disney+, and AppleTV+. And moved to sailing the high C’s (C, C+, C++). I do not like pirating but it is better than paying the enemy. I use Jackett and the arr apps (sonarr, radarr, have no need for the other ones yet) and then it is just added to Jellyfin. I am considering moving to plex because the Jellyfin app on my AppleTV wants me to pay for a subscription in order to use it all. I much prefer Jellyfin so we will have to see what comes from my decisions on a new media centre.

    My Nextcloud is hosted on a 1TB NVMe drive in a raspberry pi 5, my VPN is on a pi 4 booting off of a USB drive, and I sail the high C’s on another pi 5 that hosts my Jellyfin server. On both of my pi 5’s I have pihole working as my DNS so that way I am blocking ads and ad trackers over my LAN. I am considering my options on how to remove my iPhone and iPad backups off of icloud. Maybe I will get my old Mac Pro working again and backing things up there?

    • ceiron@lemm.eeOPEnglish
      2·
      22 days ago

      That’s a great setup you’ve got with the Pis and Nextcloud!

      Unwatched is an iOS app that allows to handle subscriptions to YouTube channels without a Google account, the ads and the recommendation algorithms.